Teen Angel 

by June Pulliam

10/16/2006

Bennett, Veronica. Angelmonster. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick Press, 2006. 234 pp.

While Angelmonster is not a horror novel per se, it is of related interest to aficionados of the genre since it is a fictitious account of the life of young Mary Shelley, author of Frankenstein. Many of us who have studied this classic and learned of its author’s dramatic life tend to forget something particularly important about Mary Shelley—she was a teenager when she met her future husband, Percy B. Shelley, the married philandering poet who would take Mary around Europe, often pursued by debtors. He is also the man who impregnated her sister. The fictionalized account of Mary Shelley’s life in a novel intended for a young adult audience underscores her almost frightening youth, a fact that is perhaps more disturbing to older readers than to its intended audience.

Angelmonster begins with young Mary’s intending to make a spectacular entrance into a dinner party her father is hosting. She gets her sister Jane (who would later change her name to Claire) to douse her thin muslin dress with water so that it appears nearly transparent, something fashionable in Parisian circles in the early 19^th century, but still a bit risqué in her father’s London home—particularly when his attractive teenaged daughter decides to ape this fashion. In this scene, it becomes clear that Mary is not that different from 21^st century teenagers who are also known for wearing things that scandalize their parents.

After the dinner party, Mary argues with her angry stepmother, who believes that her behavior might cause people to believe that she is something lower than even an actress. Mary defends her actions, claiming that she has every right to display her body in such a way as she is still young and fair, and furthermore, it might help her attract a rich husband, which is of course her family’s plan all along. Unfortunately, Mary is correct in this regard, for her behavior does cause a young man named Percy to become enamored of her, with disastrous results.  It’s not long before Percy and Mary are sneaking off together sans chaperone, and later she runs off with him (with her sister, who doesn’t want to remain at home with her gone, as she will have to face their parents’ wrath alone).

Although Mary’s father is a freethinker who believes in free love, he draws the line where his daughters are concerned, and is disgraced when it is known that she has left home with a married man and is pregnant by him. After Percy’s first wife commits suicide, and he is able to wed Mary, her family is somewhat mollified. But this doesn’t last long, for soon Claire becomes pregnant out of wedlock as well.

The story follows Mary through numerous pregnancies, a draft of Frankenstein, and ultimately until Shelley’s death. However, it doesn’t get into detail when discussing the writing of her famous novel. Perhaps this is rightfully so, as Bennett’s emphasis is on the young woman who had other adventures in her life, besides the authorship of her famous Frankenstein. Arguably, the novel reads more like a teen historical romance than a biographical novel of Shelley. Nonetheless, readers familiar with her life will enjoy Angelmonster.